Gender & Violence Sociology of Gender Conference All cartoons taken from www.cartoonbank.com Andrew Carvajal Rapist: what typically comes to mind... Who is the stereotypical rapist? The Sexual Victimization of College Women A collaboration of the National Institute of Justice (NJS) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJN) Authors: Bonnie S. Fisher, Francis T. Cullen, Michael G. Turner U.S. Department of Justice – December 2000 General Information College women face a greater risk of rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population, and women in a comparable age group Results based on a phone surveys with a random sample of 4,446 college women from all over the U.S. Sexual victimization measured as respondents’ answers to whether they had experienced a variety of situations during their college experience The Findings 2.8 % of the sample had experienced either a completed rape (1.7%) or an attempted rape incident (1.1%) during the survey period 1.8 % for rape and 1.3 % for attempted rape in undergraduates 0.8% and 0% for non-undergraduates However, projecting these numbers to a whole academic year, the estimated % of college girls who suffer full rape or attempted rape is 5% Over the course of a degree (4 or 5 years) the % of completed or attempted rapes among women can climb to 20-25% Rates compared to noncollege women More Findings Most women don’t define the incidents construed as rape by the researchers, as rape themselves Are researchers overstating the problem, or students understating it? 15.5% of the women were sexually victimized during the academic year Either through rape, attempted rape, or threat of rape More Findings When and where does victimization occur? The vast majority of sexual victimizations occurred in the evening (after 6 p.m.) 60% of on-campus rapes occurred in residences, 31% in other living quarters on-campus, and 10.3% in fraternities Relation with the Offender 90% of the victims knew their offender Protective action In both completed rape and sexual coercion, victims were less likely to take protective action Fewer than 5% of full or attempted rapes were reported to law enforcement officials Using protective action might lead attempts to rape or coerce sex to fail Amongst the reasons cited were fear of receiving hostility from the police and the judicial system 13.1 % of victims had been stalked since the start of the school year Varied Risks 4 main factors consistently increased the risk of sexual victimization: frequently drinking enough to get drunk being unmarried having been a victim of a sexual assault before the start of the school year living on campus Verbal Victimization Type General sexist remarks Incidence (% women) 54% Cat calls, whistles about their looks, etc Obscene telephone calls 48% Asked inappropriate questions about romantic/sex life 19% 22% Visual Victimization Type Incidence (% women) Exposed to pornographic material w/out consent Exposed to someone’s sexual organs w/out consent Someone tried to observe the resp. undressing, nude, or in sexual act w/out consent Someone took video, pictures or taped resp. having sex 6% 4.8% 2.4% 0.2 % So, who is the average rapist in our society? School shootings: A Gender Issue? Is gender the most critical factor in the latest wave of school shootings? A School Shooter Profile Following the shooting at Columbine the US Secret Service (2000) offered a report in which they said that there “is no profile” for school shooters No profile??? Barry Loukaitis; Feb 2 1996 http://img.photobucket.com White Boy Luke Woodham; Oct 1 1997 White Boy www.experts.about.com Michael Carneal; Dec 1st 1997 White Boy www. cnn.com Mitchell Johnson & Andrew Golden; March 24 1998 White Boys http://www.baptiststandard.com http://www.keystosaferschools.com Kip Kinkel; May 21 1998 White Boy http://www.jeremiahproject.com Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold; April 20 1999 www.nndb.com http://www.olddoom.com White Boys Andrew Williams; March 5 2001 White Boy http://news.bbc.co.uk John Jason McLaughlin; Sept 24 2003 White Boy www.kare11.com Eric Hainstock; Sept 29 2006 http://www.wrex.com White Boy No Profile? Maybe it is harder to identify a profile when it is the “norm” The white, heterosexual, male is often the trait that most often goes unnoticed in our analyses of social problems It is invisible (see Kimmel’s “What about the Boys”) No Profile? What would have happened if the perpetrators of these shootings had been mainly women, or black males instead? School shootings: A Surrogate Debate Family changes, women in the workforce Bad parenting Depression/mental illness Goth subculture Gun control Importance of religion, prayer, faith Disrespectful youth/rebelliousness – absence of traditional values School shootings: A Surrogate Debate Media, music, videogames, the internet … Maybe its time to bring gender into the picture! More Answers Yes: Michael Kimmel “Snips and Snails… and Violent Urges” Gender as single most obvious and intractable difference in violence in the US We often talk about school shootings as “youth” and “teen” violence But the majority of these teens are boys Men and boys are responsible for 95% of violent crimes in the US From early age boys learn that violence is an acceptable and admirable way of conflict resolution Yes: Michael Kimmel “Snips and Snails… and Violent Urges” Most school shooters subject to teasing, bashing and questioning of their masculinity Violence not in male brain or testosterone: boys learn it Some turn inward: depression, drug-abuse, isolation, suicide Some turn outward: rage, violence Media, sports, culture that glorifies heroic and redemptive violence Fathers; 50% own guns We need to look at how ideals of manhood became so entangled with violence School shooters are “real boys” and want to prove it No: Alvin Poussaint Major role of depression Individuals trying to cope with internal anger and rage Not everyone turns into violence, so those at risk should be referred to psychological counseling Students should feel comfortable and encouraged to tell teachers about peers carrying weapons and making violent threats Parents should see alienation, anger, making threats and getting into fights as warning signs As a neighbour/observer, you should report parents who neglect or abuse their children to social service agencies No: Alvin Poussaint Offer alternative outlets to channel aggression Youth tends to normalize the violence they see in the media, videogames Sports, communications with family and friends, anger management They don’t see that death is real Institute programs that combat prejudice and promote tolerance Schools should pay more attention to warning signs and the need for more moral education